my kids LOVE the stationery/art store. i would make a trip to the store and stock up on great pens, small pads of paper and the like.. on halloween night, they got to choose some candy to keep (a particular number of pieces) and the rest went into a big bag and was left at the front door to the house. I would take a piece of paper and mangle it, then get a big black crayon and write in terrible lettering and badly spelled words that the candy witch had come and stolen all the candy and left them with (HA!) school supplies. it was a riot – my kids loved it. (boys don’t much care for fairy archetypes…) and, i got rid of the candy… what fun.

My kids’ loot gets put in a big jar on top of the fridge to be doled out very slowly and usually for some good deed or special day. Like you, I have decided that forbidding it completely will probably not be beneficial and may result in a backlash later on, but we are very careful about their sugar intake overall.

I use the peanut allergy as an excuse to “inspect” all the party/school/Halloween candy they receive and thin it out before they even see it, but even after it goes in the jar, they never seem to notice that most of it ends up disappearing (to Daddy’s office to be dumped in the kitchen for his coworkers to nosh on.)